The rewards of dreaming

[MRtoo]

That's a nice car!

[Monkey Boy]

Do you have any more pics of the inside?

Still havent finished the inside yet looks prety standard apart from the plastic along the back and over the doors painted and white dials.

Still need to build my sub boxs, paint the dash bits, recover the seats and door pannels and it should be just about done and ready for 4's and rot's next year

[Monkey Boy]

Found it

[Alsw20]

Was it stolen and dumped or something?

[Benckj]

We are all waiting to hear the story behind latest pics.

[Monkey Boy]

Hello everyone!!
It has been a very long time since I have been on here. But, I'm back

So, ol' yella.
I sold it back in about 2010/11, because I was doing my plastering apprenticeship around then and it turns out MR2's don't make good work vans.
It was a very, very sad day to see it go. But a local chap had bought it and I got to see it cruzing around from time to time.
Then he sold it to someone in Chch and that was it, I never saw it again.

I always kept one eye out to see if it ever popped up for sale but it never did. Out of all my old cars this is the one I wished I didn't let go, but such is life.

I always figured if I saw it, I'd buy it OR if a deal I couldn't refuse popped up for a cheap MR2, I'd grab it. Ha! cheap MR2's... you guys remember those don't ya?

Surprisingly, I did find a cheap one over in Nelson. There is a whole saga on me driving the thing home after midnight with multiple power failures and a minor encounter with the fuzz. But I'll save that for one of the meets, when I eventually get to one. It's a 92 na, has lowish k's, not too bad condition but defiantly needs work, Veilside body kit in poor condition.

The plan is to replicate my old car but do it even better than last time. Gen 4 turbo, upgrade all suspension, have some fun with the interior. Basically relive the good ol' days. And because the new car is all ready in need of work and has the body kit I want, I don't have to feel bad about destroying a minter and ruining the original value.

And that's where my problems start. Making it look like the old car. The spoiler, engine cover, taillights and wheels, just to name a few items are just about impossible to get these days. The drift-teks, by some miracle, Koya started making them again. Even better they make them to order, so you can specify stud pattern, width and offset. They were only doing 18's at the time so I got them done in that size, 18x8 front 18x9 rear +35 all round.
Wheels sorted it was onto the body parts... I tralled the net but the only options I could find were going to cost an unjustifiable amount of coin.

One night I had a couple of mates around for drinks in the garage. We were chatting about plans for the car and one of them asked if I wanted him to put the word out on Facebook to try find the old car. So I sent him a couple of reference photos and he put up a post. Next morning he calls me. "found it." still in Chch but been parked up for around 10 years, no motor or wheels but otherwise mostly still there.
I couldn't believe it. After getting mucked around a bit trying to get in touch with the owner, I finally got through to him and he agreed to sell it to me for $1000. To me that was a bargain. The spoiler alone was going to to around $3g from Veilside. So I hired a trailer, I have a spare set of wheels off the new car, and did a grundy run down in the middle of the week to grab it.

It was a weird feeling seeing it again. Utter excitement but also really depressing to see the state it was in. Turns out, when it was sold to the original Chch owner, the motor blew and it was taken to a mechanic for repair. The motor was pulled and then it sat out the back of the shop waiting for a decision from the owner, but he disappeared. The shop wanted it gone and went through the legal process to recoup costs and sell it. Behind the shop was an auto sparky who wanted it for the wheels and power steer pump. So he cut a deal, took it home, took what he wanted and it sat under a tree for a decade.

Naturally sitting that long, the rego has lapsed, and while the car isn't in too bad a shape structurally, there would be too much hassle putting it back on the road. So, I've completely stripped the car down to a bare shell. the only thing left was the front windscreen, which was cracked. I scraped the shell, but I now have a complete MR2 in buckets and bins. I'll post some more pics later.

If you haven't guessed, the plan now is to make one really good car from two. I'll use what I need from ol' yella, there will be a heap of shiny new parts going into the new car as well. And once I'm done I'll sell/scrap any remaining parts I don't think necessary to hold onto.

It will be a long process, work is unbelievably busy at the moment, in fact it has been ever since the first lockdown. And I want to finish restoring my Hilux before I get carried away with the MR2. Once I do get stuck in, I'll try to document as much as I can. Ya never know I might try youtubing it.
Anyway, that's where I am at the moment. It is good to be back on the scene. If anyone is up Blenheim way and wants to stop in for a chat and a quiet drink or 2 feel free to drop me a line.

[GDII]

What a crazy story! Good you've managed to find the bits you wanted off the original car.

Hit me up if you need the GEN4 swap wiring done. That's something I can definitely do for you.

[Monkey Boy]

Hit me up if you need the GEN4 swap wiring done. That's something I can definitely do for you.

Awesome, thanks. I plan to run a Haltech ecu and go electric throttle, waste gate and digital dash. Best car of the 90's with the best tech of today kinda thing.

[tw2]

Just saw this thread. Wow hopefully a great outcome in the end. From someone who has taken two cars into one... you have your work cut out for you. If you can keep the running car running while swapping things over it will be a much more enjoyable experience. At least that it what I tried to do before the ECU packed it in.

[Monkey Boy]

Luckily it's just a straight up project car, so while it would be great to use it, I don't need to.

[Monkey Boy]

Just a couple pics, striping out ol' yella